Archive for June, 2014

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Draft Night Recap: Were the Sixers smart in their picks?

June 30th, 2014 by Ryan Waterman | Comments Off on Draft Night Recap: Were the Sixers smart in their picks? | Filed in Basketball, General, Sixers

nbadraftThe suspense (or….lack thereof) is now officially over. The NBA Draft has come and gone without a trade up to No.1 for Andrew Wiggins, or unloading the expensive contract of veteran Thaddeus Young. However, it’s a mis-statement to say that the Sixers weren’t active in last night’s draft, executing 4 trades in Brooklyn.  With that said, let’s take a rundown of the picks and see how Sam Hinkie fared in his 2nd draft at the helm of this….interesting orginazation.

1st Pick (#3): Joel Embiid (C/Kansas)

I love this pick. Embiid is the most talented player in this draft. The question remains, “Can he get healthy?” If he can, pairing Embiid with Nerlens Noel can create a monstrous back court, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the Spurs’ “Twin Towers” of Tim Duncan and David Robinson. Many were skeptical of this pick, but to the skeptics…I have one thing to say. The Sixers had Embiid’s medical records on file for three days.  If they didn’t feel he would recover to almost 100%, I doubt they would’ve taken him. Whether you like the approach or not, Hinkie is demanding that you be patient with this team.

2nd Pick (#10): Ellfrid Peyton: (PG/UL-Laffyette)

To me, this pick seemed like a panic pick. It was no secret that the Sixers wanted Nik Stauskas out of Michigan. The Kings took him at #8 and the Sixers panicked. The took the relatively unknown PG out of Louisiana-Laffyette that rose with the quickness. It seemed for a short time like the Sixers were primed to trade reigning ROY Michael Carter-Williams. Or, so we thought….

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Is Jimmy Rollins a Hall of Famer?

June 28th, 2014 by Kyle Lutz | Comments Off on Is Jimmy Rollins a Hall of Famer? | Filed in Baseball, General, Phillies

jrollhof

Now that Jimmy Rollins has the Phillies’ all-time hits record under his belt and out of the way, what’s next to accomplish individually for him?

We all know he’s no longer in the prime of his career, but how big will his downward slope (continue to) be? Many other questions are pressing regarding Rollins. Will he remain with the team this year after the July 31st  non-waiver trade deadline? He’d have to waive his no-trade clause of course for that to happen; an idea he brought up four-days ago as “never honestly thinking about it.” Rollins discussed the topic with USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.

(Matt Slocum/AP)

“Even if somewhere else was the perfect spot, this is what I know. You weigh that against the instant gratification of winning right now. You leave, and there’s no guarantee you’re going to win anyways. You pack up to leave for a different organization, a different city, and it feels temporary. I can tell you that I have never honestly thought about waiving my no-trade clause.”

Speculation about where his whereabouts will be in a month from now aside, now I’ll discuss whether or not he’s a legitimate hall of famer or not.

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Could/will the NBA eventually add a third-round again to the NBA Draft?

June 28th, 2014 by Kyle Lutz | Comments Off on Could/will the NBA eventually add a third-round again to the NBA Draft? | Filed in Basketball, General, Sports

nbadraft3

Sportswriter Chris Sheridan reported roughly three-years ago that the likelihood of the NBA adopting a third round in the NBA Draft each and every year is fairly high. The NBA, just so you know, hasn’t had a third round in the annual draft since 1988. I bet you all the money in the world that you couldn’t guess off the top of your head who was the first third-round pick in that year’s draft in ’88. Go ahead and take a crack at it.

Give up? Clue: It was a one-year, 1.5 points/game player.

The Clippers’ Rob Lock.

Anthony Mason, out of Tennessee State, was the most famous third-round pick in that year’s draft; he was drafted 53rd-overall by Portland. Mason went on to play 13 seasons in the league, with six-different teams, averaging 10.9 points and 8.3 rebounds/game as a power forward/center.

Fast forward to 2014, and the question still remains 26-years later: should the NBA start a third-round in the draft again?

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2014 Philadelphia 76ers NBA-Draft Recap

June 28th, 2014 by Kyle Lutz | Comments Off on 2014 Philadelphia 76ers NBA-Draft Recap | Filed in Basketball, Sixers, Sports

 NBA Draft Review

(Orlin Wagner/AP Photo)

So the Sixers made a couple of interesting moves, both via trade and with their selections, on Thursday night in the 2014 NBA Draft. Here’s a recap of what happened, in all.

First off, most importantly, with the third-overall pick they selected Kansas’ center Joel Embiid, fairly surprisingly. Many had reported, from reputable sources, that Sixers’ GM Sam Hinkie was willing to still draft highly-touted but injured product Joel Embiid if he was still available by the third pick. And he was. Cleveland, who had the number-one overall pick (again), went the safe route with their pick in selecting Embiid’s former teammate at Kansas, guard Andrew Wiggins. With the second-overall pick, next, Milwaukee selected small-forward Jabari Parker out of Duke. Based on how the draft fared, it’s safe to say that the first two teams picking in Cleveland and Milwaukee went the safe route with their picks considering Embiid’s foot injury and current rehab stint. Embiid is slated to miss 4-6 months in recovering from successful navicular-bone foot surgery.

Did the Sixers take a high risk yesterday in selecting Embiid? Yes. Will the pick, considering Embiid’s talent and prowess, pay off in the long run once he’s healthy? That remains to be seen; whether or not he can remain healthy in future years, contribute, and play up to his potential.

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Sixers select Kansas center Joel Embiid with 3rd pick in NBA Draft

June 27th, 2014 by Kyle Lutz | Comments Off on Sixers select Kansas center Joel Embiid with 3rd pick in NBA Draft | Filed in Basketball, General, Sixers

(Charlie Riedel/AP)

The speculation is up; the draft commenced and Philadelphia finally has an answer as to who’ll be their top pick in this year’s draft.  That honor belongs to Joel Embiid.

A bit of background on Embiid, he’s not only a center that played collegiately for Kansas (2013-14) but a 7’0, 250-pound one at that. He owns a similar frame, in terms of past NBA players, — successful ones at that — to Hall-of-Famer Hakeem Olajuwon and former Sixer, and defensive player of the year, Dikembe Mutombo.  All three were in the 7-foot, 250-pound range physically, as well as originally being from/near Africa.  Albeit a way-smaller (and small sample size in general) sample size, and comparing one player’s collegiate stats to another’s professional, Embiid also shared another fact with Mutombo; a very-similar stat line. Mutombo, in 1196-career NBA games, averaged 9.8 points — in which I’ll round that figure off to 10 points/game — and 2.8 blocks/game. In comparison, despite his sample size being much lower at 28 games, Embiid averaged a combination of 11.2 points/2.6 blocks per game last season; his lone collegiate one.

Embiid averaged a point/game higher and .02 blocks/game lower, roughly, than Mutombo; though Embiid’s Jayhawks only played in 40-minute games,  compared to the NBA-minutes regulation/game of 48. Like his two predecessors/similar players listed above, assuming this to be true, Embiid is a passionate, emotional, honest, yet loving team player.

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Recap: Embiid Headlines Sixers Draft Picks on Busy Night

June 27th, 2014 by Sam Shipley | Comments Off on Recap: Embiid Headlines Sixers Draft Picks on Busy Night | Filed in Basketball, General, Sixers
The Sixers selected Joel Embiid with the 3rd pick

The Sixers selected Joel Embiid with the 3rd pick

The Philadelphia 76ers finished last season with a record of 19-63, leaving many, if not all, of the fan base looking forward to draft night. For close to a year now, the most popular player linked to the Sixers, via fan opinion, was Kansas Small Forward Andrew Wiggins. However, Wiggins didn’t end up in Philadelphia nor did Jabari Parker who was another player linked to Philadelphia after his freshman season at Duke.

Instead Wiggins went to the Cleveland Cavaliers as the first selection in the draft, and was followed by Jabari Parker who went to the Milwaukee Bucks, respectively.

When the Sixers went on the clock at number three, the possibilities were endless with players they could take. Dante Exum, Joel Embiid, Julius Randle, and Noah Vonleh were all linked to the Sixers at that spot. They could have even traded down.

But when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver trotted his way to the podium for his third selection of the night he said: “With the third pick in the 2014 NBA Draft the Philadelphia 76ers select Joel Embiid” words that some Sixers fans were thrilled with and also angry with.

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TalkSportsPhilly Radio: NBA Draft, Flyers, Phillies

June 27th, 2014 by Leo | 2 Comments | Filed in General, Phillies, Sixers, TSP Radio

tspradiologo

Listen to another edition of  TalkSportsPhilly Radio about the NBA Draft, Flyers, and Phillies.  On this edition, the TSP RoundTable consists of Leo, Sam Shipley, and Ryan Waterman.  Both Sam and Ryan are writers for TalkSportsPhilly and big followers of basketball, the Sixers and NBA.

TSP will be covering the Army vs Navy Veterans game on June 28th and supporting their featured cause of StopCAIDNow and stay tuned for post game coverage.

On this show we speak about the Phillies standings in the NL East, the Flyers Hartnell for Umberger trade, and of course the NBA Draft and what the Sixers will do.

Take a listen by clicking the Play button below:

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